


In the cards

by Tanaqui



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Community: fic_promptly, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:22:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tanaqui/pseuds/Tanaqui
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the second half of season 2. Duke knows Audrey is struggling with the mystery of her past. Her approach to unraveling her future, though, takes him by surprise.</p>
<p>Written for a <a href="http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/201564.html?thread=8579676#cmt8579676">prompt at the fic-promptly comm</a>: <em>Any - Any - tarot cards</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the cards

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Scribbler for beta reading.

"Come on, let's get our fortunes told." Audrey pointed to the booth to one side of the Ren Faire that offered Tarot readings.

Duke frowned at her, puzzled. "You believe in all that?"

Audrey shrugged. "Not really. But it's fun. When I—." She stopped and made a face. "When the real Audrey was in college, she had a friend used to do readings for her. Helped her make some choices. Besides, I'm tired of asking questions about a girl nobody's seen. I need a break."

Duke laughed. "Officer Parker, off the clock?"

Audrey punched him lightly in the arm. "It happens." She folded up the small stack of flyers showing the missing girl and shoved them into her jacket pocket.

"Yeah, it does," Duke conceded. He waved her toward the booth. "Come on, then. My treat."

Inside, the inner part of the booth was dimly lit, the walls hung with dark cloth and a shaded lamp throwing a circle of light onto a table where the fortune teller sat shuffling cards. She was younger than Duke had expected—in her early twenties, maybe—and looked like she'd accidentally wandered in from a Goth convention rather than being in keeping with the faux-mediaeval style of the rest of the Ren Faire. She studied the two of them with narrowed eyes as they ducked through the curtain that divided this part of the tent from the front section where her sidekick had taken their money.

"Welcome." She extended a hand to indicate they should sit. "Both of you together?"

Duke held up his hands to show he was no part of this. Audrey gave an embarrassed chuckle. "No, just me." 

She sat down, resting her hands on the table. Duke lounged by the tent wall, his fists stuffed into his pockets. The fortune teller went on shuffling the cards, glancing between Audrey and Duke while her hands moved automatically. "What is you want to know?" she asked softly.

"My future?" Audrey shrugged. "My past's a bit of a mystery too, but I'm not sure anyone can help with that."

The fortune-teller nodded, her gaze still flicking to Duke occasionally. Duke knew what was going on, and he suspected Audrey did too: the fortune teller was doing a cold reading – on both of them. "Do you have a particular question you'd like to ask?" she asked.

"Not really." Audrey cast a quick glance over her shoulder at Duke. "Just, maybe... who to trust? Who to let myself get close to?"

"Hmm. Why don't we try a Two Paths spread." She held out the cards for Audrey to cut. "That can help with making a decision."

"Okay." Audrey placed the stack of cards she'd taken onto the table. 

The fortune teller put the cards she still held on top of them and then began dealing the cards, placing five of them in a V before setting the rest aside. She hovered her hands above the tips of the V, drawing in a deep breath before she spoke. "I see much potential for success here—but also the chance that you may ultimately fail in your goals, no matter what you do. The Ten of Rods—" She tapped one of the cards. "This tells me you have achieved much so far, but those past successes may be your undoing. They may lead you to take on more, to take on too much, until it becomes a burden you can no longer bear. To work harder, to never rest, because you are afraid to fail—and fail because of that."

Audrey shot a startled look over her shoulder at Duke. He gave her a shrug. He doubted the fortune teller had overheard their conversation outside, but she'd picked that up from somewhere. Probably from Audrey's harassed expression and tense shoulders and—Duke smiled to himself: maybe she'd spotted the flyers in Audrey's pocket and the badge on her belt.

The fortune teller tapped the card at the top of the other arm of the V. Craning his neck, Duke saw it was a picture of a woman wearing an inadequate wisp of gauze inside a garland of leaves. "The other path also leads to success, but the route is more complicated. Many things must come together to create the achievement and reward you seek. Only by following this path will you be able to find everything you need to deliver that reward." She fixed her eyes on Audrey. "The outcome will depend on your choice."

"What choice?" Audrey had her hands clasped together and was looking down at the cards with an intent expression on her face.

_Crap_ , Duke thought. _She's taking this way too seriously._ He made to move and then stopped himself. She'd said herself that, back in college, the real Audrey had used this to make choices. Maybe she hadn't meant it seriously when she'd suggested they come in here, but it was her choice to take it seriously now. Even if _he_ thought it was all mumbo-jumbo, he had to respect that. And hang around to help her with the fallout—whatever that was.

The fortune teller drew her hands down the V to reach the next two cards. "This path, which may lead to failure through success, will involve you with The King of Swords. A man of authority, of the law, of unwavering ethics. He demands much of you and you would do much to be worthy of the trust and loyalty he inspires in you."

Duke could almost see Audrey's lips shape the word "Nathan." A quick glance at the fortune teller showed she'd not missed the movement either, even if—unlike Duke—she didn't know exactly what the unvoiced word had been. It at least told her she was on the right track.

The fortune teller tilted her head. "Perhaps you need to be careful you don't let him demand too much?" she suggested gently. 

Audrey bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah," she muttered.

The fortune teller gave her a hard look, before spreading her fingers over the card on the other stroke of the V. "This path, this will see you entangled with The Page of Rods. This man... this is an adventurer. A catalyst. Someone who shakes life up." Her mouth twitched up as her gaze briefly slid in Duke's direction again. He rolled his eyes. That was the problem with a place like Haven: he didn't recognize the fortune teller, but he'd bet the _Cape Rouge_ she knew who _he_ was. Knew that he was a distinctly odd choice for a member of Haven PD to be hanging out with.

Pretty damn odd choice for him, too, when he thought about it. Except Audrey was Audrey and somehow, ever since he'd fished her out of the water, his life had seemed to revolve around her in one way or another.

The fortune teller was still talking. "He brings a spark that will set you on the road to success—something new that will come into your life that will need only time and effort to provide the outcome you desire." Her hand drifted back towards the top card on the same arm of the V, before both of her hands moved down, settling on the last card. "And here we have The Wheel of Fortune." She tapped it with one plum-painted fingernail. "Your path is destined. Events may appear to be happening by chance, but are all links in the chain that leads to success."

A frown had settled on Audrey's face. "So which path do I choose?" she whispered. "Who do I turn to?"

The fortune teller shrugged. "That is for you to decide. But it seems to me that success is more certain if you reject neither option but embrace both. These men," she hesitated and then amended, "if they are men.... These forces... they must be kept in balance. The law will take you far, but you also need the free spirit, the adventurer, the catalyst to reach your final goal."

"Yeah." Audrey sat back, her gaze still fixed on the cards, a smile playing over her lips. "Yeah, I do."

She got up from her chair and dipped her head at the fortune teller. "Thank you." She turned to Duke, and he saw some of the tension had gone out of her and there was a renewed sparkle in her expression. "Duke, do you want to—?" She gestured toward the chair.

He shook his head. "No, I think we're done here.

Following her out of the tent, he grinned to himself, realizing that maybe he'd had a little bit of his own future shown to him after all. Whatever happened with Audrey and Nathan, he reckoned she wouldn't cut Duke out of her life entirely.


End file.
